I’ve been utterly taken by the simplicity of Slayin (free to play online/download there; enhanced version $1 on the iTunes store). In its scope, gameplay, and literal definition, it is almost entirely one-dimensional. And this is what makes it great.

<I want to say at this point that “the game unfolds…” but don’t know what the one-dimensional analogue would be. “Extends”?>

The player is constrained to a single axis of a scene viewed from the side; moving left and right represents the majority of your gameplay input. As the starting character, a knight, your facing is critical: from one side you are a relentless dealer of death, but from the other you are only meat to be devoured. Other than this directional movement, the only other option available to you is a short jump. You go up, you come right back down. There are no platforms, no skybound powerups. Any escape from that one-dimensional axis is short-lived. And so you move and you face and you dodge wave after wave of enemy, each calling for a slightly different approach. Bosses provide more complex patterns but your options remain the same. Take what little you have and handle everything they throw at you.

Unlocking the second character removes the jump button and the direction of guaranteed slaughter in favour of a spellcasting button that turns you briefly into an invincible and damage-dealing tornado. In the moments between bouts of tempestuous fury, you are made intensely vulnerable. Until your next whirl is ready, you can be harmed from any angle. Gameplay shifts dramatically, an entirely different nuance of timing and position is added to the still-single dimension of movement. Familiar enemies call for entirely new approaches. Forget everything you learned in knight school; you’re a wizard now.

Further deepening the experience are the intermittent merchants, offering slight alterations and improvements to the characters’ abilities. Extend your killing reach or add an additional effect; nothing will let you escape your plane, only survive a few levels longer. The third unlocked character, the knave, has a strange relationship with this merchant: with blades on both sides he collects money only to spend it on objects that increase the future money he will earn. Is this singular pursuit a clever microcosm of the game’s own singular focus?

It’s the thorough exploration of a simple mechanic that makes Slayin shine: a single set of constraints is imposed, then pushed against in every direction in an attempt to squeeze out all the hidden possibilities of the gamespace. It succeeds brilliantly. It is at once accessible, challenging, and rewarding on a number of levels. Would that more games knew their mechanics so well and explored them so thoroughly. Elegance is often born of simplicity and, in this, Slayin is the eleganst.

eleganst¹ (l-gnst), adj.
1. Most elegant.

eleganst² (l-gnst), n.
1. One who is the most elegant